What challenges are raised by the dissemination and/or communication of knowledge?

What challenges are raised by the dissemination and/or communication of knowledge?

The first object is my copy of Encyclopedia of British History, which informs readers about the
chronological list of historical events and figures connected to Britain.

The knowledge communicated in the book implies to readers that historical knowledge is simply a series
of dates, places, names, events and conflicts. However, history should be a source that enhances more
than just my factual knowledge, but also my sense of responsibility and understanding of diversity,
migration and national identity. This book’s limitation of knowledge stifles the true understanding of the
reader due to the prescribed format of this encyclopedia. As a sole source of historical knowledge, this
text does not encourage readers to think critically about how history is presented, but instead simply
depicts history in a constrained and biased manner. The book predominantly illustrates other cultures as
aggressive or militaristic. Although full of factual events, it fails to explore the differences between
nations, such as their leadership regime and religious influences, and societal experiences of those nations
within the specific historical periods they are mentioned. The book glosses over intricate cultural details
of each era and leaves an impression that conflict is central to our understanding of history. This
encyclopedia’s shortcomings result from a long-standing methodology that has been taken to educate
children about history.

I selected this particular book as a good example of a printed text that I have read, which left me with
tunnel vision and a lack of sufficient insight to establish a mental map of British history. Therefore, the
major challenges raised from communicating historical knowledge through just one text are twofold; it
can create a narrow perception and fails to establish a more expansive awareness of the subject matter.

i

My second object, I found whilst researching media influences on society, is a satirical cartoon portraying
media bias of visual imagery when relaying accounts of events. The cartoon depicts an incident between
two individuals, one about to stab the other, but when framed through the television camera the
impression given to the viewer is that the roles are reversed.

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is an idiom frequently used to justify the use of images as a simple
and effective way of disseminating knowledge. However, filmed or photographic imagery are subjective,
and therefore unreliable, because of camera angle, lighting and selective framing influences and the
context in which it is presented.

When mass media uses images as a primary or supportive method to communicate knowledge, the viewer
is unable to challenge its reliability as it is unknown whether the image is a complete or partial account. It
is difficult to make conclusions about what is truly happening when not all the facts may be accessible or
visible. The cartoon questions the truthfulness of events depicted through television images - as facts
shown through imagery may look like one thing but may actually be something completely different.
Television has become a powerful medium through which to present a certain view of knowledge to
audiences because it uses two sensory modalities (vision and auditory) that can both be edited to present
an alternate perception. If only the viewer could step out from behind the camera to view the whole
picture.

I chose this image because when I first saw it, it made me question media images. There is some irony
here as the message itself is presented through the medium of an image. The influence of imagery usage
by media is significant and sometimes provides a distorted view and narrowed knowledge of the actual

subject matter, resulting in mistrust. My own dependency on images, has made me a victim of media’s
depiction of events.

                                                                                                     ii

The final object is the 1999 event in which NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter was lost, resulting from it entering
Mars' atmosphere too lowiii. The explanation given for the incident placed accountability for the loss on
an error in the transfer of information iv between the spacecraft team in Colorado and the mission
navigation team in California v,vi. An investigation indicated a navigational error was due to the units of
measurement used in communication from Earth and received by the probe. They were sent in imperial
form, but the probe was only programmed to utilise metric datavii.

Where the communicator and recipient of knowledge both use valid unit measurement forms, neither
can be deemed to be incorrect. Yet, challenges arise where the communicator’s dissemination of
knowledge is dependent on the transposition across mediums in order that its contextual meaning is
neither lost nor misunderstood by the recipient. This is a particular risk when disseminating scientific
knowledge as differing interpretations may result where there is an oversight in its conversion to the
required form. The communicator of the knowledge remains responsible for either applying the relevant
process to transpose mathematical data into the required form or advising the recipient that the
obligation to apply the relevant process rests with them. When communicating knowledge, it would be
ignorant not to accept that there is no global standard unit form used by all.

I chose this event, as I have learnt from my chemistry studies the importance of stating the correct
temperature unit measurement, which has three formats (Celsius, Kelvin and Fahrenheit). This mission’s
failure was due to an oversight in the communication of knowledge leading to miscalculations and
subsequent loss of scientific opportunity (costing $327million)viii. With an aspiration to work in science, I
have come to appreciate the importance of being alert to the diverse unit forms used.

My objects show the existence of challenges that arise through the form in which knowledge is
communicated. What stands out is that the recipient is rarely challenged to look beyond the source for
greater clarity or expansion of information.

REFERENCES

iBadgley, G., (2015), POST #7: VISUAL ARGUMENTS. [Blog] Visual Rhetoric with Garrett Badgley. Available at:
https://blogs.longwood.edu/visualrhetoricbadgley/2015/09/22/post-7-visual-arguments/
ii
 National Aeronautics and Space Administration., (2009), Lost In Translation. SYSTEM FAILURE CASE STUDIES,
[online] Volume 3 (05), p.1 Available at: https://sma.nasa.gov/docs/default-source/safety-
messages/safetymessage-2009-08-01-themarsclimateorbitermishap.pdf?sfvrsn=eaa1ef8_4.
iii
 NASA., (n.d.), Mars Climate Orbiter. [online] NASA Science MARS EXPLORATION PROGRAM. Available at:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/missions/mars-climate-orbiter/
iv
 NASA., (2019), Mars Climate Orbiter. [online] NASA Science SOLAR SYSTEM EXPLORATION. Available at:
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/mars-climate-orbiter/in-depth/
vHarish, A., (2021), When NASA Lost a Spacecraft Due to a Metric Math Mistake. [online] SIMSCALE Blog. Available
at: https://www.simscale.com/blog/2017/12/nasa-mars-climate-orbiter-metric/
vi
 Oberg, J., (1999), Why the Mars Probe went off course. [online] IEEE SPECTRUM. Available at:
https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/robotic-exploration/why-the-mars-probe-went-off-course
vii    NASA (n3)
viii
  Dodd, T. and Schwartz, J., (2020), Metric vs Imperial Units: How NASA lost a 327 Million Dollar Mission to Mars.
[online] EVERYDAY ASTRONAUT. Available at: https://everydayastronaut.com/mars-climate-orbiter/